"Then I guess you made over a dollar?"
"I did."
"That's more than I've made to-day," growled Pepper. "Business is growing worse and worse."
Nelson knew that he must have made more than a dollar, but he did not say anything on the point. He saw that Sam Pepper was in an ugly mood.
"It seems to me you ought to begin paying something for your keep," went on the lunch-room keeper, after he had returned from serving the drinks he had been mixing.
"All right, I'm willing," said Nelson readily. "But I don't get much from here now, remember."
"It's not my fault if you are not here at dinner time. Plenty of eating going to waste."
"I am not going to eat other folks' left-overs," said the newsboy, remembering the offer made to him several days before.
"Those left-overs are good enough for the likes of you, Nelson. Don't git high-toned before you can afford it."